This invention is directed to protective cushion pads utilized for packaging articles in cartons or crates or vans in connection with the shipping, storage and handling of articles wherein it is desirable to protect the edges and corners thereof against damage by abrasions, shocks or the like.
It is known that a wide variety of articles are packaged and shiped from one location to another wherein it is necessary to appropriately package or crate the articles to be shipped. In many cases, such articles consist of electronic instruments, cabinets, desks, appliances, furniture, and a wide variety of other similar articles which have substantially rectangular or square-shaped edges. It will be appreciated that especially in connection with items such as furniture, or electronic instruments, it is necessary to package or crate these articles such that when they arrive at their ultimate destination, the articles are undamaged, either in terms of aesthetic appearance or functional utility.
In the past, articles such as the above have been packaged in various different ways, but in most cases, such packaging devices and techniques have been unsatisfactory. One method used to package such articles has been to employ packing material formed from shredded or wadded paper. Once the article is placed in the carton or crate, the packing material is stuffed into the packing carton or crate about the sides, back and top of the article, after which the carton or crate is closed. Clearly, a great volume of packing material must be utilized which can become an expensive added cost of the manufacturing, and it is clear that once the article has arrived at its final destination, the user must then remove all of this packing material and dispose of the same. This constitutes a a very tedious operation and also involves a waste elimination problem.
Another method which has been utilized to package articles such as electronic instruments or the like, has been to employ pre-formed cushions of a resilient material, such as expanded polystyrene or rubber. The packing cushions are pre-formed in that the cushions are molded so as to take on the contour of either the top or bottom, or both, of the article to be packaged, thereby permitting the article to be placed, for example, in a bottom pre-formed cushion after which a top pre-formed cushion is positioned atop the article and the article enclosed within the carton or crate.
Hence, the attempt has been made to effectively "sandwich" the article between the packing cushions within the carton. The difficulty with such packing material is the fact that usually such pre-formed cushions are relatively expensive to manufacture, since they must be formed or molded to fit the article. It is therefore necessary to employ costly molds and in addition, it is also clear that the shipping time involved in shipping the articles intended is directly dependent upon the supply of the pre-formed cushions. In other words, it is not possible to ship out the articles until a fresh supply of cusions is obtained. It will also be appreciated that due to the fact that such pre-formed cushions are molded to fit a particular article, such cushions cannot be used for any other articles which are of a different size, hence, there is limited applicability or interchangeability in utilizing such pre-formed cushions with respect to a wide variety of articles. Finally, such pre-formed cushions pose a storage problem in that they cannot easily be stored due to their bulk and volume. Hence, warehousing problems present themselves where a shipper deals in a volume of articles to be shipped and therefore must store a volume of these pre-formed cushions.
Some attempts have been made to improve upon packaging materials and methods such as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,137 issued in the name of John M. Carmody and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. As disclosed in this patent, pre-formed corner cushions are manufactured which are utilized to protect each of the square corners formed by an article of manufacture, such as a piece of furniture, a cabinet, or the like. The corner cushions described and claimed therein are formed from an elongated tube formed of a foamed polyethylene or other similar material, and apparatus is provided for simultaneously cutting a formed three-faced corner cushion wherein the three interior faces are normal with respect to one another. Each of these cushions will then accommodate the insertion therein of a corner of an article, and when one of these cushions is placed on each of the corners of the article, effective packing means is provided for both protecting the corners against damage, as well as preventing vibrational shock or other forces from injuring or damaging the article cartoned or crated.
While the corner cushions as exemplified by the above-noted patent are extremely useful for the purpose intended, nevertheless, certain other problems are inherent in such construction. For example, it is apparent that, again, a storage problem is involved in storing and warehousing such corner cushions, since they are pre-formed and therefore take up valuable warehousing space. In addition, where certain articles have corners which are not completely square, it may be difficult to apply such corner cushions to these articles at any of such non-square corners during the packaging procedure.